Nailed: Essie Kisses and Bises Over Black

I bought this polish quite a few months ago now, but I neer got around to usingit because it's so sheer, I didn't know what I wanted to layer it with. I bought it in a set from TK Maxx, and it was incorrectly marked as being the shade Tangerine, which it certainly is not. I googled around and I'm 99% sure it's Kisses and Bises, from the Spring 2011 collection. I really love how it looks over black! I used Barry M black as a base, if anyone is interested, it's opaque in 2 coats. Kisses and Bises transforms the black into a duochrome-y purple that changes through pink, purple and gold. So pretty! I can imagine this polish looking really nice over a nude polish as well.

Nailed: OPI Mermaid's Tears with Your Royal Shine-ness

Again, apologies for the high number of nail related posts!

I absolutely love this mani, and didn't want to take it off! Definitely one I'll be repeating. OPI Mermaid's Tears (Pirates of the Carribean collection) with Your Royal Shine-ness (Serena Glam Slam) on the tips. Application was fine, tips were done with a small paintbrush, all smoothed out with a coat of Seche Vite. Removal was without issues :)

TK Maxx OPI Haul

Sorry to be coming up with so many nail related posts recently, I'm really trying to vary my content a bit more but I dont have much makeup with me at my temporary flat, just enough for 2 or 3 every day looks really, while I've got all of my nail stuff, so my nails have been getting a lot of my attention recently!

not long after I got back from Uganda I went shopping near my parents house on the Isle of Wight. TK Maxx has only recently come to the Island and is something of a novelty there! Obviously we have TK Maxx in London where I spend most of my time, but after nearly 3 months in the wilderness it seemed like a pretty exciting prospect!

I don't love shopping in TK Maxx for clothes, I find it kindof stressful and too much like a jumble sale, but for accessories and beauty products (and weirdly, ski wear) it doesn't bother me at all. I've never owned or even used an OPI polish before so I was pretty excited when I saw them!

I got two sets in the end, a trio, above, which was priced at £14.99, and a Serena Glam Slam duo, which was £9.99.

The trio doesn't seem to be from any particular collection, the colours are, from left to right, Mermaid's Tears, which was from the Pirates of the Carribean collection, Shatter The Scales, which was from The Amazing Spider Man collection, and Your Royal Shine-Ness, which was from a different Serena Glam Slam duo! I really like the colours though, and it's nice to have some limited edition shades.

The colours in the Serena Glam Slam duo are Pros and Bronze (right), and Love is a Racket (left). Pros and Bronze is definitely my favourite out of these two, its just so interesting! its a really coppery tone, and on the nail has a bit of a pink colour shift! It's so pretty and striking, I couldn't stop looking at it when I was wearing it!

 I was pretty pleased to get these at only £5 each rather than the usual price point of around £10. I like to change my polish often and although I like these, I don't think I could justify spending that much on one polish. If I saw them at this price again I would definitely buy more though!

Nailed: Barry M Neon Pink

I'm so sorry I've been MIA the past couple of weeks, I've been staying with a friend in London while I looked for a new flat/house to live in for my second year at uni, and I let my camera at my parents house. I've got it back now and found a house, thank God!

Anyway, recently I was in Tantrum in Westfield in Stratford, where they do nail art stuff, and recently seem to have added a lot more makeup and jewelry to their stock. They also do nail art for you in store, which I need to check out some time soon!

They had a big Barry M stand and seemed to stock the entire line of Barry M makeup. I was very excited about that as I have a bit of an obsession with Barry M Nail Paints, but I have the most popular ones which tend to be stocked at smaller stands! I found a few polishes that I don't already own, but it was the neons that really caught my eye, and I came away with Neon Pink and a blue nail art pen by Tantrum. I would link to their website but there isn't much of it, you can find their facebook page here

Neon Pink is a really bright, almost, but not quite, highlighter pink. The thing that makes it slightly more interesting than a flat neon is that it has a very fine blue shimer to it, which accentuates its brightness. If you enlarge the photo the shimmer becomes much more apparent. It was opaque in 2 coats but I'm a 3 coat girl and used 3 for a perfect finish. One thicker coat could even have given adequate coverage.

Bow Manicure from The Illustrated Nail

This is super old, but I just realised that I never posted it! A few months ago, a new Lola and Grace store opened at Westfield Stratford, and had loads of things going on the day they opened. There was champagne and cupcakes, a jewelry swap, free manicures and a DJ and party in the evening I think.

My friend Leonie and I went to check it out, and we arrived just as the girls from The Illustrated Nail turned up! We booked in for the first appointment and went to shop while they got set up. When we came back there was a huge queue, but as we had booked in we got to slot right in! She created a beautiful bow design on my nails and used Essie Mint Candy Apple as a base colour. I wish I had the skills to do nail art like this!

Nailed: Essie Sole Mate

Totally in love with this polish. Great colour, great brush, perfect shine, perfect application! Not the best photo, but it's a gorgeous blackened plum shade.

Nailed: French Gradient with Tutorial

Today I decided to do something a little bit different with my nails. I like the classic french manicure but I sometimes think it can look a little bit too prefect, and I know a lot of people think it can look tacky (though personally I like it!). This look is softer and is inherently easier than doing your own french manicure as well!

The steps are really very easy, but I'll go through them anyway. You're going to need a nude nail polish, I used Maybelline Everstrong in Ivory Rose (£4.09, here), a base coat, I used Save the Nail Repair and Rescue Base coat as my nails are quite weak (£7.50, here), a french white polish, I'm using Collection 2000 French Manicure in French White (£2.99, availbile from Boots and Superdrug, but irritatingly not online) and a topcoat. I'm using Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat (£10.50, here), a nail file and/or buffer, a makeup sponge and some sort of non-porus surface, I just use old packaging.

The first step is to prep your nails. File them into a shape you like, and then I always use a nail buffer to give a smoother finish, but you could skip this. Apply your base coat.

 Apply your nude polish, using enough coats for it to be opaque, though if your nail line shows it doesn't matter too much.

Once that is completely dry, you need to pour out a little bit of your nude polish onto the plastic. Dip the edge of your sponge into it and then dab it off on a clean part of the plastic. If the sponge is too wet you wont get a nice gradient, just a harsh white patch, so this bit is important! Start to stipple the sponge onto the tips of your nails. concentrate on getting a subtle wash of colour at this stage, and dont worry if your tips aren't completely white yet. Once you have done this on all 10 fingers, you can go back and use the sponge just on the very ends of your nails to make the tips fully white. Apply your topcoat and you're good to go!

Using a matte topcoat can make the gradient even more fuzzy and soft looking, it's a really pretty effect.

Nailed: Lilac Charm

Today is a scheduled post as I'm currently living it up in Uganda! This is a polish I bought a few weeks ago now, but that I have only just gotten around to wearing. It's a strongly cool toned lilac colour, it reminds me of parma violet sweets that I used to buy as a kid. In this photo it looks like its very sheer, but in real life my nail line was nowhere near as visible, 2 coats was fine for everyday wear, 3 would have made it perfect.

This polish is from the Maybelline Forever Strong line (£4.09, here) application and removal were without problems.

Nailed: Shock.

Since the weather has finally warmed up, I've been able to crack out the summer brights!

This is by LA Colors from their Color Craze line in the shade Shock. I got this for the bargainous price of £1 from Beauty Base in Westfield Stratford.

The formula was not great. For a £1 polish, I didn't expect great things, but the other polishes I have from this line have had much better formulas, so maybe I've been spoilt by them in the past. This polish was really very sheer, the abover photo is with 5 coats, and my nail line was still visible. The colour is lovely, but if i was going to use this again I think I would try it over a white base. Overall it's not a bad polish, but be prepared to have to work quite hard to get it to look like the bottle. Removal was without problems.

Some New Things...

My aforementioned shopping extravaganza did not end with Primark hair accessories, so I thought I'd share.

Sunglasses. I used to have absolutely loads of pairs of sunglasses, and then I went to Tanzania, and then I went to Uganda. The kids there are compleely obsessed with them, so I came back from Tanzania with none of the sunnies that I'd taken with me, but still some left at home. When my trip to Uganda came around the following summer, I took all of my remaining pairs (six in total!) and I came back with only one pair. (see evidence of adorable sunglasses theives below). So, having learned my lesson, I decided tostart stocking up on cheap sunnies from Primark. These were only £2 each and offer full UV protection, which is important. The super pretty Cath Kidston-esque sunglasses case was only £1.50 too!



The two Maybelline Forever Strong nail polishes were impulse buys really, but I really love the colours. they are Ivory Rose and Lilac charm.

Lastly I got a new foundation from Bobbi Brown (review coming soon!). It's a different forula to the one I used to use, and is supposed to be long wearing and is oil free. We shall see!

Nailed; Ivory Rose

I think I've found my perfect nude polish! I first saw this on Makeup Savvy and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it! I got it in Superdrug where I took advantage of their current 3 for 2 on all cosmetics offer.

It's from the Maybelline Forever Strong line and I absolutely love it. It's much more peachy than my other nude polish, which is from the same line but is the shade Rose Poudre. I think this is a great nude for fair skin as it doesn't make your hands look 'dead' or make them look red, which can happen with some nudes. I think it would look nice with a glitter topcoat too, if you wanted to liven it up a bit.